LOS ANGELES – It had been a night of such improbabilities – the Lakers had overcome a 17-point deficit, Kobe Bryant had dunked – that when Bryant shot a 3-pointer with less than 20 seconds left, it was reasonable to assume that it would fall through the night.

The shot would have pulled the Lakers within two, but it rattled out, and the Lakers‘ comeback against the Boston Celtics fizzled.

The Lakers lost, 107-100, in Bryant’s last game against the hated Celtics (45-32). In a performance befitting Lakers-Celtics games of years past, Bryant scored 34 points. It was just the fourth time this season that he scored more than 30 points.

Coach Byron Scott said it was the first recent game that Bryant “was dead serious for the whole game.” The playfulness that has permeated this season was on hold.

“He understands this series so obviously he wanted to win this one badly,” Scott said.

“It’s weird,” Bryant said, “the last time facing that green. It’s been a joy to go against them, to be a part of a rivalry that I watched for so long.”

Bryant played 33 minutes after lasting just nine minutes four nights earlier against Miami, and Scott said he will continue to see big minutes.

After trailing by 17 points in the first quarter, the Lakers recovered to outscore the Celtics, 27-20, in the third quarter and take a fleeting lead.

The Lakers fell to 16-60, just the second time in franchise history they’ve hit such a mark, are riding on the fumes of Bryant’s career to the finish line of a dismal season.

On an individual basis, though, some of the games are at least entertaining.

Take Sunday, for example. Late in the second quarter, Bryant stole the ball and raced the other way, dunking emphatically with both hands.

“I’m just glad that, again, he came down and he was healthy and he was able to get back on defense,” Scott said.

In the fourth quarter, point guard Marcelo Huertas became entangled with Boston All-Star Isaiah Thomas, leading to a Thomas technical foul.

Thomas finished with a team-high 26 points, yet another example of opposing guards tearing up the Lakers inexperienced backcourt.

“We’ve got to get a whole lot better defensively,” Scott said, “individually as well as collectively. And that’s been an issue all season long.’

Lou Williams and Brandon Bass did not play, despite the veterans being among the Lakers most consistent contributors. Scott said he plans on sitting them out the rest of the season to allow young players to log heavy minutes.

RIVALRY REVELRY

Growing up in Inglewood, Byron Scott didn’t know much about the Lakers and Celtics rivalry. He was eight the last time they’d met in the Finals in 1969. But after playing in the 1984, 1985 and 1987 Finals against Boston, Scott is deeply immersed in the lore.

“We truly didn’t like them that much,” he said, “but when you retire and you get a chance to sit down with a few of those players, you really find out why you didn’t like them, because you had so much in common.”

Scott recalled an interaction with Cedric Maxwell when he was the new coach of the New Jersey Nets. The former Celtics big man, turned broadcaster, Maxwell requested an interview, and Scott refused.

“I said, ‘No, I’m not talking to him,’” Scott said.

The next season, Scott said, he agreed to the interview, and came away from it thinking with different feelings toward Maxwell.

“We sat down a little bit more and we talked a little bit more after the interview was over and I found out exactly why I hated him,” Scott said. “Because they wanted everything that we wanted. They just did it in a different way.”

The Lakers and Celtics are obviously far removed from their glory days, although the plucky Celtics are in contention in the Eastern Conference. The rivalry lives on through anecdotes and YouTube videos, but Scott wasn’t optimistic that it can ever be replicated.

“With free agency and the way these guys are playing in AAU and these guys know each other so well,” he said, “I don’t know if you can get those type of rivalries in sports anymore.”

VENI, VITTI, VICI

For 32 years, Gary Vitti operated mainly in the shadows of Lakers history. After the first quarter on center court, Lakers longtime trainer found himself alone at center court, receiving robust cheers from the fans whose team he strived to keep healthy for three decades.

Like Kobe Bryant, Vitti will retire after the Lakers’ last game on April 13.

“When you think of … all of the unbelievable players that we’ve had here in this organization,” Scott said, “Gary’s on that list, as well, as one of the greatest that’s ever been around this organization.”

General Manager Mitch Kupchak, a Lakers player when Vitti joined the organization in 1984, presented Vitti a framed jersey, with a medical cross in place of a number. He was also treated to a video tribute and given two first-class tickets to Italy, where he owns a second home in the remote mountain village of Settefrati.

Scott said it was fitting that the Lakers honored Vitti with the Celtics in town. Vitti’s first season in Los Angeles was the first year the Lakers beat Boston in the NBA Finals – after eight previous tries.

“I’m sure he felt that his arrival was a big reason we were able to do that, it wasn’t the fact we had all these great players. But he’s connected to the Lakers-Celtics rivalry as much as anybody.

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